Japan and China: Two Paths to Modernization

Colonial Europe set its sight on expansion and extending its domain around the

world. It was only a mater of time before it reached the Far East, including Japan and

China. That time came in the 19th Century when Matthew Perry, his squadron of steam

ships, and the other nations of Europe came to Japan and China. Japan and China both

faced the same challenges of opening up their countries to trade, embracing

modernization, and opening their boarders. Japan and China may have faced the same

challenges, but they were handled them very differently. Japanese society accepted and

embraced new technology from Europe to eventually out grow China. As well as

embracing technology, Japan had the strong leadership of the 15th shogun Yoshinobu.

Yoshinobu would act to moderate and balance the transformation of Japan into a modern

day society. Contrary to the Japanese approach to technological development, China did

not accept or embrace European technology and modern methods. China also had a

severe lack of leadership and decisiveness from its leaders, Tzu His and Prince Tuanto, in

helping the country with the transition to modernization.

Throughout history, Japan has had an open minded approached to adopting

technology and modernizations. For example, much of Japan’s own culture, ideas, and

technology came from China after Japan recognized China as superior. Japan often sent

aboard, including to China, in order to learn of new and better ideas. With this approach

to openness and learning, when Commodore Matthew Parry arrived in Japan, the

Japanese leaders quickly singed a treaty allowing ports to be established with a limited

amount of trade to be created.i This embrace of modernization, lead by Yoshinobu, can

be summed up with a Shiba quote of Yoshinobu saying, “It was always his principle not

to swim against the current, but to move with it.”ii

Soon after accepting the path to Japan’s modernization, there emerged a

conservative movement in the government causing Yoshinobu to be caught in between

isolation and reform. Yoshinobu was a leader that showed great intelligence and

command. He utilized these talents during his short reign to balance conflicting sides

within the country, while doing what he thought was the best for Japan. Yoshinobu’s

intellect can be seen in the following quote by Shiba where he not only says he will eject

the foreigners, but every one will be needed to fight them,

“I am a military retainer. I will apply myself with all my might to getting ride of

the foreign presence in our country. Because this means making an enemy of the whole

world, the crack of gunfire and the roar of canon fire are bound to echo over hill and dale

across every inch of Japan. You men are from Choshu, where the cry, ‘Expel the

barbarians!’ first arose. When the time comes, see that the roar of guns does not cause

you to take flight in alarm.”iii

In 1868, Yoshinobu knew that he had to surrender his power or the Tokugawa

shogunate would fall. Yoshinobu peacefully relinquished his power to the young

emperor Meijii. This transfer of power allowed for a peaceful transition to a more

centralized Japan, allowing one person to be in control over the arrival of western

civilization.iv After Yoshinobu relinquished control, he was considered a deserter to the

country and this is described in a quote from Shiba. “Now that things had calmed down

and they could look back with greater perspective, there was room to imagine what might

had happened if Yashinobu had not peacefully handed over the Tokugawa power. Many

privately thought that the greatest contributor to the Meiji government was none other

than Tokugawa Yoshinobu.”v

With the era of the shogunate failing, and the powers given to the Meiji emperor,

Japan embraced modernization that quickly took root and started Japan’s growth on the

world stage. In the span of a century Japan became a world power, with one of the

leading economies in Asia and in the world.

China did not embrace the arrival of European technology and imperialism in the

same way that Japan did. China and Japan was both isolationist, but unlike Japan, China

was not as tolerating or accepting of new technology and ideas. China had been one of

the most advanced civilizations for thousands of years, leading the world in technology,

art, and culture. China called its self “the middle kingdom”, believing they were the

center of civilization and the world. This philosophy of thinking that China was the

center of the world, may have been true at one point in time, but that philosophy was no

longer true with their years of isolationism. After nearly a century of isolationism, China

fell behind much of the developed world. While Europe and the much of the rest of the

world entered the industrial revolution, China did not. During the rule of the Manchu

dynasty, when Europe first came to China, China still felt it was the center of the

civilized world and grew comfortable and confident in this viewpoint. At this time the

ideology of Confucianism was strongly rooted in Chinese culture.vi The strict doctrines of

Confucianism worked to only further limit their knowledge of the rest of the world and

gave them the wrong idea of what was happening in others parts of the world.

The Manchu’s belief in their dominance of the world was one reason leading to

the Opium War. The aristocrats in China heavily underestimated English merchants and

traders and their connection to and influence with the superior English military and the

British navy in particular. Seagrave wrote,

“Unfortunately, China misunderstood the special relationship that existed between

private British traders and the government in London. Parliament was under strong

pressure from business interests at home to go to war over this affront to free enterprise.

Paking also underestimated the military power of England the destructive force at the

command, primarily in the form of modern cannon.”vii

The Treaty of Nanking in 1842 was a result of the Opium War and China’s

underestimation of the English and their military power. The Treaty of Nanking forced

the Chinese to pay high fees on the sale of opium and other illegal drugs, as well as the

cost of war.viii Naturally, contempt grew out of the Treaty of Nanking.

Anti-European sentiment in China grew into the Boxer movement. The Boxer

Rebellion became violent and spread like wild fire. The Manchu dynasty was unable to

stop the spread of violence. This poor handling of the Boxer Rebellion showed just how

indecisive and weak the ruling Empress Dowager was. Empress Dowager is quoted, by

Seagrave, as saying,

“I should have issued an Edict at once to stop the boxers…but both Prince Tuan

and Duke Lan told me that they firmly believe the Boxers were sent by Heaven to enable

China to rid off the undesirable and hated foreigners. I never dreamt that the Boxer

Movement would end with such serious results for China.”ix

During this time in Chinese history when faced with the foreign invasion from

Europe, the Manchu dynasty had very little to offer along the lines of leadership. All the

Manchu could offer was the Dowager Empress Tzu His and her nephew Emperor Kuang

Hsu. Both leaders lacked the ability to make insightful and decisive decisions. This

fundamentally ruined the Manchu government and set its collapse in motion. Tzu His

allowed herself to be manipulated by Prince Tuan. There may have been a shred of hope

for China with government reform if Kuang Hsu had been able to issue a series of

reforms. When Kuang tried to pass reforms through the Manchu government, he met a

series of conservative resistance lead by Prince Tuan. The determined Kuang was just

not strong enough and didn’t possess the charisma needed to convince the government.

This is shown when Seagrave writes,

“In their youth, the dynamic Emperor Kang Hsi or his ruthless son Yung Cheng

would have risen to the occasion and put all their enemies to flight. Kuang Hsu, for all

his admirable and sympathetic qualities, was never cut out for such a dominant role. He

had been burdened with physical, medical, and emotional problems since childhood and

was not up to the task of routing the Ironhats, winning over the Clan Council, or

convincing his aunt that she should stick to her retirement and leave the business of

governing the empire to him”x

Unlike Tzu His, who was a concubine when she came to power, Emperor Kuang

was groomed to become Emperor since birth. Kuang Hsu was educated in western ideas

and philosophy. After seeing Japan transformed by European influence he saw the

benefits for China. His drive for western knowledge and insight to the benefits from

European can be summed up by this comment from Seagrave,

“He [Kuang] had Western books and articles translated for him and studied the

Japanese experiment with modernization to discover how an island of ‘dwarf pirates’

could turn itself, practically overnight, into a world power. If it was possible for Japan,

so it could be for China.”xi

Soon after, Kuang tried passing reforms through the Manchu government. He

collapsed and gave into pressures from the Ironhats, Prince Tuan, and the advice of his

aunt. Ending what could have been the only change for reform and a smooth transition to

modernization. Without a smooth transition into modernization China was splintered and

was picked apart by European imperialism, slowly and painfully moving into

modernization.

As a result, China faced a much harder time with European imperialism than did

Japan. There were a few key differences in how China and Japan faced foreign invaders.

Chinese culture, strongly influenced by Confucianism, lacked the ability to accept new

technology and ideas unlike was the case with Japan. China and the Manchu dynasty had

problems with a decentralized government and the lack of decisive leadership, where as

Japan had the strong and insightful leadership of Yoshinobu. With the keys to

modernization, Japan quickly sailed into modernization, becoming a major world power

and economic force. China lacking the culture and leadership that saved Japan was

picked apart and left to slowly and painfully modernize.

Chris Prokopanko

i Rhoads Murphy. A History of Asia (New York: Longman, 2003), pg 253 ii Ryotaro Shiba. The Last Shogun: The Life of Tokugawa Yoshinobu (New York: Kodansha Iternational, 1998) pg 231 iii Shiba, pg 93-94 iv Murphy, pg 266 v Shiba, pg 243 vi Murphy, pg 253 vii Sterling Seagrave. Dragon Lady: The Life and Legend of the Last Empress of China (New Your: Vintage Boos, 1992), pg 45-46 viii Seagrave, pg 46 ix Seagrave, pg 301 x Seagrave, pg 234 xiSeagrave, pg 196-197